Writer’s block. Anyone who has ever consistently put out content for the world to see has experienced it. Especially those who are in marketing.
If you’re a copywriter or business owner who writes your own digital marketing content, you know what I’m talking about.
Content writing is a huge part of any content marketing strategy, and it often occurs via blogging. Consistently writing eventually requires you to know how to overcome writer’s block. Here are eight tips to consider.
1. Get it on the page
Years ago, I spoke with an incredibly talented novelist named Robert Liparulo. I was a budding writer at the time, and he was incredibly encouraging as I was starting out.
His main message to me was simple: Get it on the page. In other words, just start writing your blog post. Don’t worry about SEO. Set aside your perfectionism. Just write your first draft.
Not sure where to begin? Try freewriting. This is the practice of writing whatever comes to mind for a set period of time. To begin, try freewriting for only 5 minutes and see if any new ideas come to mind.
I get it — it’s hard every time I stare at a blank page on my WordPress site. But I know that getting something down is one of the best ways I can beat writer’s block.
2. Think through past conversations with customers and potential customers
Did you recently have a conversation where you educated a customer or potential customer? If so, how? Did you answer any questions from them that might apply to others in your target audience? Draw from these experiences, as they are often good ammo for content.
3. Get a change of scenery
It’s amazing what this can do for a personal brainstorming session. Sometimes going to a quiet, relaxing place, such as a coffee shop, can help you get the creative juices flowing. You may even consider going for a walk in a park, so you can exercise as you brainstorm.
4. Ask yourself what you think your customers would like to know
If you don’t have questions from conversations that you can reference, look at it as a hypothetical. In other words, hypothetically speaking, if you were someone in your target audience, what are some questions you’d be asking?
5. Keep learning
If you’re stuck in a rut when it comes to finding new ideas, go learn something. I think the best content marketers are the ones who are constantly deepening their knowledge of their industry.
Read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast — do something that will help you educate yourself on topics related to your industry. Then, share what you’ve learned via a blog post.
6. Use the power of search engines
Not sure what to learn? Try doing some keyword research to find trending keywords closely related to your industry. Then do a Google search for those keywords and read some of the educational content that appears.
7. Build on concepts in previous blog posts
If you’ve already established your blog, scan through it to see if there are any topics you mentioned that you could expand upon. This will help you get more value out of the writing time you initially spent on these posts.
Let’s say you make wooden furniture, and you write a blog post on the various types of lumber you use for tables. Perhaps you mention pine in this post, but only write a paragraph on it. In this case, you could write an entire post about the benefits of using pine for a variety of furniture pieces — not just tables.
8. Mine your social media posts
This is one way social media can augment your blog. For instance, have you ever written about anything on LinkedIn that was completely different than anything you had on your blog? If so, you could build one of those social media posts into a blog post. You could then look through your other social media posts for additional ideas.
Wrapping up
Overcoming writer’s block can be difficult, especially if you’re not used to writing a lot in the first place. I hope that incorporating some of these tips into your writing routine will help reduce how often you experience writer’s block. Remember to constantly be learning and to not always wait until you’ve got it all figured out before you start writing.
Need more help generating new ideas for your blog content? I’d love to help. Feel free to hop on my calendar and let’s get a conversation started.
